Index: Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py	(revision 66976)
+++ Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py	(working copy)
@@ -812,13 +812,24 @@
             _write_data(writer, attrs[a_name].value)
             writer.write("\"")
         if self.childNodes:
-            writer.write(">%s"%(newl))
-            for node in self.childNodes:
-                node.writexml(writer,indent+addindent,addindent,newl)
-            writer.write("%s</%s>%s" % (indent,self.tagName,newl))
+            writer.write(">")
+            if self._issimple():
+                writer.write("".join([n.nodeValue for n in self.childNodes]))
+            else:
+                writer.write(newl)
+                for node in self.childNodes:
+                    node.writexml(writer,indent+addindent,addindent,newl)
+                writer.write(indent)
+            writer.write("</%s>%s" % (self.tagName, newl))
         else:
             writer.write("/>%s"%(newl))
 
+    def _issimple(self):
+        for node in self.childNodes:
+            if node.nodeType != Node.TEXT_NODE:
+                return False
+        return True
+
     def _get_attributes(self):
         return NamedNodeMap(self._attrs, self._attrsNS, self)